wood weight

Use your best judgement and eyeball it. IMO, on a pork butt, if I was deciding between 3 or 4 pieces(just an example - not a recommendation) I would pick the extra piece. Apple wood will be milder than hickory all things equal. Make SURE you write it down somewhere for next time. Have fun. The worst PB I've smoked has been really good.

There's no rule against mixing woods. I like a little hickory or pecan with apple.

redoak,
Thanks for the thought! I did eyeball the wood I would guess about 3 oz size apple, 1 1/2 oz hickory. I have 2 7lb pbs on have been going over 6 hrs and their up to 153% and smoke is still coming out so I will be ok with that. I have to go to wally world and get fixings for smokin's vinegar dip.

Remember Hickory is a much denser wood than apple so the volumes vs weight will always be different.

I tend to be a little anal about how I do things so I actually use a postage scale to weigh my woods before I load them in. Thats just me most guys eyeball it and we all have great smoked foods.

I weigh the wood with a digital kitchen scale. This insures that you get the correct amount and control your result. Wood density is key. Three chunks of apple weigh differently than three chunks of hickory. Also, if you keep a record or notes of your smoke it enables you to duplicate or adjust based on your results.

If you're new to CS, less is better than more. We'll hear more about "oversmoked" than undersmoked.

And you can still eat the undersmoked.

Ok guys, I started to think about this wood weight thing.

Wouldn't the weight be affected by moisture content, which will be effected by nature.Hence, more or possiblely less smoke on same weighted wood???

I think they're assuming we're using seasoned wood which means it's been aged and dried properly.

Pags, I'm a country boy been around seasoned wood I'm diffently not buying this.I bet the chunks that came in my box,because of different size of tree,age of tree are different that was before we had -12* temp wich drys out air witch will effect moisture content,hence smoke lenght.Mavbe not enough for us to tell,but is a small differnce in weight any different? Think about this a while!!

cal,

I think you're overthinking it. Nothing wrong with questioning tradition, but in this case it's just a couple of chunks. Besides, are you going to test your wood each time, as the humidity will vary with the seasons.

Sure the weight would matter, and the humidity (REAL wet) would just smoulder. But...

The difference between one chunk and another, given a different humidity, wouldn't really show an effect given the small wood size.

If you were burning a bunch of logs for BTU's it might and you'll put off more gray smoke (bad) than clear/blue smoke, but not in a cooker this small.

The only think I would do it get a scale and weigh them. There are different densities, but it's really more art than science, you just need to know relative amounts.

Less would be say one or two chunks
Average would be say three or four
Heavy would be more than five.

But in the end in ONLY matters the amount you need for your taste buds.

Keep notes of how much wood and how much flavor you get for your own effects.

The other variables I think are more important (meat, seasoning, sauce, etc) in the end, I don't think most people can taste the "flavor" of a particular wood.

Thank you Smokin'!!!
It isn't exactly rocket science to be able to smoke meats. What part of "Keep it Simple Stupid" do people not understand?
You can go overboard and out figure anything if you have the extra time for it!

As Smokin' says,after awhile our experience will tend to carry us thru our early concerns.

In very early days,I weighed and wrote weights on the little wood blocks with a dark pencil.

I'd cooked on lots of cookers-big and little,but thought maybe the CS was completely different.

It was a kinda expensive,funny lookin' beast.

After awhile,I'd reach in the wood drawer and get a handful and go cook.

Yes,I used milder fruit woods for some things,and stronger nut woods for others.

The handfuls would vary by smaller for shorter cooks,average for average,and larger for longer.

Funny,if I checked the weights,they were close to my old notes.

That brought me back to the more experienced cooks that try to teach me:
"Put some meat in and cook it,all those tiny details will sort themselves out".

Worked pretty well ,over these years.

Now Tiger, don't be too hard on the newbies, they're just overthinking a little.

For the newbies, we actually see this quite a lot, where people come in and think there has to be more too it, or you need more info.

Trust us. Start simple, keep it smart, you're going to be doing this for years, so there's no rush to learn it all in the first month.

Shoot, I'm still learnin'

Tigerfan,
I hear your frustation. I'm learning to make sure that I do have a good baseline(KISS).Then I will have something to fall back on.I know that us Newbies usually over think things, but I would rather be thought of as stupid, then miss the chance to EAGERLY learn. I do make sure to carefully examine information provided by more experienced fellow members,because they are normally right on. Thanks again for your patience!!!

Yes,grasshopper.

You will soon be "an experienced fellow member".

All it takes is cooking AND learning.